The Colonial Newsletter, no. 157

The

Colonial N ewsletter

A Research Journal in Early American Numismatics

Volume 55, Number 1 April 2015 Serial Number 157

'uw ol/eaw

CNL - 157

Copyright ©2015

The American Numismatic Society

Editorial
Page 4247

Jim Biancarosa, Jeff Rock,
and John Lorenzo

Wood 33: A Response to the Rejoinder
Pages 4249-4256

Oliver D. Hoover

ET TU BRUTE? Brutus and Meaning
on Evasive Halfpence
Pages 4257-4265

Oliver D. Hoover

Colonial Coins in the ANS Collection
Plate Series:

Continental Currency,
Connecticut and New Jersey Coppers,
and Massachusetts Bay Silver Part 13
Pages 4266-4278

US ISSN 0010-1443

Sequential page 4245

December 2014 THE COLONIAL NEWSLETTER Sequential page 4246

The Colonial Newsletter ( CNL ) is published three times a year by The American Numismatic
Society (ANS), 75 Varick Street, 11th Floor, New York, NY 10013. CNL is available at the rate of
$45 per year for ANS members and $60 per year for non-members. For inquiries concerning CAL,
please contact Catherine DiTuri at the above postal address: e-mail <membership@numismatics.
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ANS Executive Director: Dr. Ute Wartenberg Kagan
Editor Emeritus: James C. Spilman |

CNL Staff

Editor: Oliver D. Hoover <CNL@numismatics.org>

Contributing Editor: Philip L. Mossman, M.D.

Associate Editor: Dr. Louis E. Jordan
Associate Editor: Dr. John M. Kleeberg
Associate Editor: John J. Kraljevich, Jr.

Associate Editor: Gary Trudgen

Visit the ANS website at <www.numismatics.org>and the CNL web page at
<www.numismatics . org/ CNL/ CNL> .

♦ ♦♦♦♦♦♦

Submitting Material for Publication

We encourage our readers to consider submitting material on early North American numismatics
to CNL for publication. In general, this includes coins, tokens, paper money, and medals that were
current before the U.S. Federal Mint began operations in 1793. However, there are certain pieces
produced after the 1793 date that have traditionally been considered part of pre-Federal numismat-
ics and should be included. We cover ah aspects of study regarding the manufacture and use of
these items. Our very knowledgeable and friendly staff will assist potential authors to finalize sub-
missions by providing advice concerning the text and help with illustrations. Submissions in either
electronic or hard copy format, should be sent to the editor via the e-mail address given above or
through the ANS at their postal address. Electronic text submissions should be formatted in Word
with separate grayscale images.

April 2015

THE COLONIAL NEWSLETTER Sequential page 4247

Editorial

Thank goodness, it is finally here! After what
has been one of the worst winters for snow
and cold in recent memory spring is finally
here. The days are growing longer and the
sun is working hard to shrink the very last
remnants of those ten-foot snowbanks (twenty
in Boston and the Canadian Maritimes) down
to nothing. It is a good feeling to know that we
have survived. Not only does the coming of
spring mark the end of winter's gloom and the
reawakening of the natural world, but it also
marks the beginning of a new year (our 55th)
of The Colonial Newsletter.

In this issue the discussion of the mysterious
Wood 33 continues (really, how could it ever
end?). As readers will remember, in CA//.-155,
Jim Biancarosa made a case for rereading the
legends of Wood 33, denying its classification
as either an evasive or Blacksmith copper,
and attributing them to Vermont. Parts of Jim's
argument proved to be controversial (I for one
still seriously doubt the Vermont connection)
and inspired a rejoinder from Robert Leonard
in CA//.-156. He argued that, despite some
peculiarities stemming from a relationship to
the evasive series, based on metrology and
finds, Wood 33 should indeed be treated as
a form of North American Blacksmith copper.
The Vermont attribution was dismissed on
metrological and historical grounds.

All of this has now resulted in a new composite
article by Jim Biancarosa, Jeff Rock, and
John Lorenzo, which is at once a response
to Robert's rejoinder and a presentation of

additional evidence. The whole situation
became so exciting that our dedicated
Contributing Editor, Phil Mossman, could not
help but throw in a few of his own interesting
observations. I must also confess that there
are several notes added by your humble Editor
as well. Wood 33 is such a fascinating copper
variety — who can resist saying something
about it?

In keeping with the evasive/Blacksmith theme
that we have been having for the last few
issues, the second article in CA/L-157 takes a
close look at the BRUTUS SEXTUS varieties
of evasive coppers and suggests a possible
political motive behind the use of this unusual
legend in the 1770s and later. It would seem
that there is more to the evasive copper
phenomenon than simply the desire of their
makers to avoid trouble from English laws
against counterfeiting.

This issue also continues the ANS plate series.
A new plate treats the Continental Currency
“dollars” in the Society's collection while the
Connecticut coppers plate includes Miller
varieties 4.1-G to 5.1-H.1. The New Jersey
coppers plate chronicles Maris 48-g to 54-k
and a final plate details the Massachusetts
Oak Tree shillings and sixpences from Noe
13 to 16.

Happy reading!

Oliver D. Hoover
CNL@numismatics.org

April 2015

THE COLONIAL NEWSLETTER Sequential page 4248

Two important colonial numismatic
works available from the ANS:

New Jersey State Coppers by Roger S.
Siboni, John L. Howes, and A. Buell Ish

As William Sheldon eloquently put it in Penny
Whimsy,

Old copper, like beauty, appears to
possess a certain intrinsic quality or
charm... [with] an almost living warmth
and personality not encountered in any
other metal.... You see rich shades of
green, red, brown, yellow, and even deep
ebony: together not elsewhere matched in
nature save perhaps in autumn leaves....

New Jersey State Coppers shows that never
were these words more true than in the case
of the coins struck for New Jersey by Thomas
Goadsby, Albion Cox, Walter Mould, and
Matthias Ogden. By way of introduction, the
authors fully discuss the often tumultuous
history of the New Jersey copper coinage and
its creators alongside the equally compelling
story of the men, like Dr. Edward Maris,
who first appreciated the “living warmth and
personality” of the coins and formed the great
collections of the nineteenth and twentieth
centuries. Every known New Jersey die
variety is presented in minute detail with lavish
enlarged full-color illustrations, condition
censuses, as well as commentary on die
states and other notable features.

The authors also include such supplementary
material as the original documents related
to the eighteenth-century coining venture,
imitations created for the collector market in
the nineteenth century, as well as suggestions
for developing a personal collection. New
Jersey State Coppers will surely become the
primary tool for the study of this coinage and
the basis for deepening the understanding
and appreciation of its charm as old copper.

Ordering details available online at:
http://numismatics.org/Store/NewJersey

From Crime to Punishment: Counterfeit and
Debased Currencies in Colonial and Pre-
Federai America by Philip L. Mossman

Ever since coinage was developed in ancient
Lydia, an element of society has sought to
debase the coin of the realm for personal gain
not only by counterfeiting, but also by shaving
away precious metal. Currency debasement
was not confined to the proletariat since
throughout history various monarchs
increased their royal revenues, or seigniorage,
by reducing the quality of the coins’ specie
content or its weight standard. The current
text follows closely the course of royal English
copper coinages whose high potential profit
made them an ideal prey for counterfeiters.
These forgeries flowed freely into the colonies
where they overwhelmed, and eventually
collapsed, the small change medium but not
before various states sought to correct the evil
of this imported copper trash.

Great attention is paid to Great Britain’s
mercantilistic policies which shaped the
character of the currency in the North
American colonies where chronic hard money
shortages encouraged counterfeit coinages
of all stripes whose actual manufacture
and circulation is examined in great detail.
Colonists further sought to expand their
monetary pool by printing bills of credit to
meet the exigencies of the French and Indian
Wars. This new paper currency likewise
became the target for forgery and a battle
royal ensued between the colonial treasurers
and bands of counterfeiters as they competed
to outsmart each other. But as “the weed of
crime bears bitter fruit,” many counterfeiters
were apprehended and punished for their evil

deeds.

Ordering details available online at:
http://numismatics.org/Store/NS27

April 2015 THE COLONIAL NEWSLETTER Sequential page 4249

WOOD 33: A RESPONSE TO THE REJOINDER

by

Jim Biancarosa; Palm Beach, FL
Jeff Rock; San Diego, CA
and

John Lorenzo; Midland Park, NJ

The following article is a composite response by Jim Biancarosa and Jeff Rock with contributions
by John Lorenzo to Robert D. Leonard's '"This Orphan Needs A Home: GEORIUVS. III. VTS /
BRITI': A Rejoinder" in The Colonial Newsletter 156 (pp. 4221-4229), which was itself a
response to Jim Biancarosa's "This Orphan Needs A Home: GEORIUVS. III. VTS / BRITI" in
The Colonial Newsletter 155 (pp. 4191-4198). The discussion is further supplemented by the
observations of CNL's Contributing Editor, Philip L. Mossman, and occasional notes by the
Editor.

Figure 1. Wood 33. Courtesy of Jim Biancarosa.

Jim: I must first thank Mr. Robert D. Leonard for all the work he has done. I found his article
to be very informative and interesting, but as readers might have guessed, I do not agree with
some of his conclusions. Still, I welcome his interest in my little orphan — Wood 33 (Fig. 1).

Jeff: The discussion of evasion and Blacksmith coppers on page 4221 seems somewhat
oversimplified. Mr. Leonard places all evasions into one group, those with truly evasion legends,
which tend to be of lighter weight and more crudely made. The dies from these directly link to
other coppers, including pieces of historical nature that are generally on better weight planchet
stock — not regal weight, but better than the counterfeit halfpennies in circulation. He also takes
a very small sample (the ANS evasion collection) to compare with Wood 33, but compares
all the Vermont coppers with Wood 33 (p. 4228) instead of just the later 1788-dated issues,
which are always much lighter. However, neither of these critiques seriously affects his general
argument for retaining Wood 33 in the Canadian Blacksmith series.

In the first paragraph of page 4222, Mr. Leonard argues that Blacksmith coppers did not
circulate in Great Britain as none appeared in the British Museum collection before 1966. This
proves little, since the British Museum also had very few evasion and counterfeit halfpence
in its cabinet, mainly because previously they were considered beneath the dignity of the
museum to collect. This view has since been rectified and more have been acquired. There are
in fact examples of Blacksmith coppers (including Wood 33) in some late nineteenth- and early
twentieth-century private British collections, such as that of Captain Francis Cokayne (Fig. 2).

April 2015

THE COLONIAL NEWSLETTER Sequential page 4250

Mr. Leonard is also aware of
the Wood 33 in D. T. Batty's
collection. 1 However, these are
also poor evidence for British
circulation since the collections
in question were large and
their owners easily could
have imported the Blacksmith
coppers from North America.

Jim: I do not understand the
disagreement about the reading
of the legend on page 4222. The
photos in my first article seemed
very clear. The E in GEORIUVS
(Fig. 3) was recognized by
everyone I spoke to. The VTS is
another story. It is not as clear
as the E, but John Lorenzo has
confirmed the crossbar of the T
on a specimen in his collection. 2
The reading GEORIUVS III
VTS has been accepted for
the forthcoming edition of the
Charlton catalogue.

Figure 2. Wood 23 from the Captain Francis Cokayne
collection. Courtesy of Jeff Rock.

Figure 3. Enlargements of Wood 33 obverse showing the E in GEORIUVS
(left) and VTS (right). Courtesy of Jim Biancarosa.

Phil: I read the obverse legend as: GEORI UVS» 1 1 FVIS and the reverse as BRITIv On the obverse,
the bottom serifs of the two Is in both GRORGIUVS and VIS are evident. On the reverse, there
is an I on either side of the remanant of a T, without a serif, as seen in the fourth letter of BRITI.
This gives us four identical Is and one presumed T. Right? Then how does the central serif-

1 D. T. Batty, Batty's Descriptive Catalogue of the Copper Coinage of Great Britain, Ireland, British Isles,
and Colonies (Manchester, 1878): 428, No. 4192. This example is cited by Robert Leonard on page
4229.

2 [For what it is worth, I read the E fairly clearly in Fig. 3, but remain agnostic about the crossbar of the T
in Fig. 4. The latter could be an artifact of edge filing or die rust. -Ed].

April 2015

THE COLONIAL NEWSLETTER Sequential page 4251

bearing letter in VIS now become
a serif-less T, thus making a
putative VTS? Supposing a faint
upper crossbar is evident on
some examples of the T in the
presumed VTS, how does one
explain why the bottom serif,
such as in a known T, as in BRITI,
is lacking? What does VTS mean
anyway? Certainly not Vermont.

Jim: The lack of illustrations in
the discussion of the legends and
the relationship to evasion copper
varieties listed by Atkins 3 makes
it difficult to follow Leonard's
argument. I have therefore
included images of Atkins
273 and 283 (Fig. 4), evasion
copper varieties that he cites as
possible prototypes for Wood
33. However, I maintain that the
relationship between Wood 33
and the evasion coppers is not
very close. They do not share any
letter punch similarities and they
are of a very different style. Most evasions are made to look worn with shallow, silhouette-like
busts, usually crisp lettering, and occasionally a raised rim. On Wood 33 the bust is the high
point and the edges are rounded or filed down. None of the letter tops are clearly visible. The
female figure on the reverse is very different as well. Not only is she holding what appears to
be a clover leaf, but there is no sign of Britannia's usual spear. It also seems possible that the
female figure is holding a cornucopia. No other evasion or counterfeit halfpenny features such
a device. 4

Mr. Leonard seems to express doubt about the
7 numeral that I reported as being visible in the
exergue on some specimens. This feature is
illustrated in Figure 5 and has been confirmed
on other specimens by John Lorenzo. The case
for reading this numeral as the final digit of 1797
rather than 1787 based on the GLORIOVS IER.

VIS legends of Atkins 274-287 depends entirely on
whether one accepts these evasion copper varieties
as the model for Wood 33.

Jeff: Regarding the North American circulation
evidence, Robert Leonard marshaled all the
known facts, dates, and finds — and added some

3 James Atkins, The Tradesmen's Tokens of the Eighteenth Century ( London, 1892).

4 [Note the cornucopia-bearing personification of Trade on penny and halfpenny tokens imported into
Lower Canada in the period c. 1 81 7-1 837, although she holds a scale instead of a clover leaf and sits on
a bale rather than a shield. See Charlton LC-46-LC47D and LC-47G-LC-48B. -Ed.]

Figure 4. Evasion coppers Atkins 273 (above) and 283
(below). Courtesy of Jim Biancarosa.

\ ' J

April 2015

THE COLONIAL NEWSLETTER Sequential page 4252

information I did not know about either, such as the Wood 33s found in two 1837 hoards. This
date is critical, because it puts them at the tail end of what we would consider the Blacksmith
token years and right at the time that the U.S. Hard Times tokens were being struck. I still
think Wood 33 was probably produced on the American side of the border, and exported to
Canada and that an examination of the records of larger token manufactures may yield a clue. 5
Unfortunately no one seems to want to do that kind of work. I do not think Wood 33 is a Vermont
issue, nor do I think it is a pure evasion copper — but it is not a typical Blacksmith copper either.

Jim: In the third paragraph of page
4224, Mr. Leonard argues that Wood 34
and Wood 35 are counterfeits of Wood
33. However, I think that they actually
represent early attempts at Wood 33 that
were not acceptable due to the reversal
of the devices (i.e. the head faces left
instead of right and Britannia faces right
instead of left). 6 Wood 34 is almost a
mirror image of Wood 33. Perhaps after
the coiners struck the first few examples
of Wood 34 they saw that the devices
were backwards, stopped, filed down the
dies, and made Wood 33. This scenario
might explain why Wood 34 and Wood
35 are so rare now.

Looking at the ordinal numerals on
Wood 34 and Wood 33, we can see
that on both coppers they are missing a
right serif. The ribbons and bows of the
head are similar and oddly depicted on
both varieties. On the reverses of both,
the female figure also holds a clover — a
feature found on no other copper of the
late eighteenth- or early nineteenth-
century, to my knowledge. These similarities suggest to me that the dies for Wood 34 and
Wood 35 were cut by the same hand. It seems somewhat less probable that Wood 34 was a
copy of Wood 33. With a wide variety of potential regal, counterfeit, and evasion copper models
to choose from, why would counterfeiters seize upon Wood 33 and go so far as to replicate the
ordinal numerals with their missing serifs? 7

Jeff: My view has not changed much based on either the Biancarosa or the Leonard article. I
still think Wood 33 was probably made in the United States (or Lower Canada) — the planchets
are completely unlike any of the Blacksmith pieces we assume were made in Canada. I think the
1 830s on up to the Hard Times tokens period is right period. Oliver Hoover originally argued for

5 [This possibility is also implied by some of the metrological evidence in Oliver Hoover, "Blacksmith Cop-
per Metrology," The Colonial Newsletter 1 55 (August 2014): 4199-4213 and the case of Wood 29. -Ed.]

6 After making tokens for my former coin club I have become familiar with some of the same amateur
mistakes made on Wood 33, 34, and 35. When I recognize the missteps in the production of these variet-
ies, I get a smile on my face, knowing some of what they went through.

7 [From my perspective there is a slightly troubling chicken-and-the-egg quality to both arguments, but on
the whole, Wood 34 seems rather cruder than Wood 33, which lends some attractiveness to the counter-
feit hypothesis. On the other hand, Phil Mossman points out to me that "typically only successful coinages
are copied or counterfeited. It is irrational to counterfeit something whose identity is obscure." -Ed.]

Figure 6. Wood 34 (above) and Wood 35 (below).

W. K. Cross, ed., Charlton Standard Catalogue
of Canadian Colonial Tokens, 8th ed, BL-38 and
BL-39.

v- J

April 2015

THE COLONIAL NEWSLETTER Sequential page 4253

the IERVIS evasion as a model. 8 The obverse design of this evasion is far too similar to that of
Wood 33 to be coincidental. This relationship is a major problem for the identification of Wood 33
as an early quasi-official coinage for Vermont. After all, who would propose a new coinage
using a counterfeit piece as a template? The reverse is a mystery since it is similar to nothing
in any series. I also doubt that Wood 34 and Wood 35 are imitations of Wood 33 — or prototypes
or mistakes made at the beginning. They appear to me to exceptionally crude counterfeit British
(Irish in the case of Wood 35) halfpence. Instead, I suspect that they were adopted into the
Blacksmith series because they could be sold to collectors more easily and for higher prices
with this designation. This is the same reason that some evasions came to be described as
"Pennsylvania Bungtowns." 9

John and Jim: Robert Leonard's graphs suggest that the metrology of Wood 33 conforms
closely to that of the Blacksmith series rather than to the weights of evasion or Vermont coppers.
This is the same view taken by John Lorenzo, but the situation is probably more nuanced than
this. Not all evasion series were struck to the same weight standard, nor were all Vermont
series, as Jeff Rock has mentioned. Likewise, the metrological evidence for various Blacksmith
series gives the impression that there may have been two or three weight standards involved —
one of seems to have been based on the U.S. large cent. 10 The weight question remains open
in my mind, but to expand on the data available for study I include the following table of Wood
33s in my collection with full metrological and provenance information as well as other notable
features.

Table 1: Wood 33 in the Jim Biancarosa Collection

Inv. no.

Notable Features

Grade

Source

Diameter

Weight

Rust/File Marks

W33-01

Faint top of T in
VTS

VG-10

Florida

26.51 mm

5.7 g

Obverse and
reverse die rust

W33-02

Faint 7 in exergue

VG10

New York City

26.60 mm

5.9 g

Obverse and
reverse die rust

W33-03

Uniface strike

VG-8

Upstate New York

26.54 mm

5.9 g

Some obverse
die rust

W33-04

Damaged

F-12

Upstate New York

26.79 mm

6.1 g

Obverse die rust

W33-05

7 in exergue

F-12

Upstate New York

26.57 mm

5.9 g

Some obverse
die rust

W33-06

Cornucopia

F-12

Upstate New York

26.64 mm

6.3 g

Obverse die rust

W33-07

Faint top of T in
VTS

F-12

New Jersey

26.63 mm

5.9 g

Some obverse
die rust

W33-08

Reverse clashed
dies

VF-20

Canada

26.60 mm

6.2 g

Some obverse
die rust

W33-09

R in BRITI

VF-20

New Brunswick

26.51 mm

6.1 g

Some obverse
die rust

W33-10

R in BRITI

VG-10

Florida

26.47 mm

5.6 g

No die rust

W33-11

GEORIUVS

G-4

Long Island

26.59 mm

5.7 g

Obverse die rust

W33-12

Cornucopia

VF-20

Michigan

26.68 mm

6.1 g

No die rust

W33-13

Faint top of T in
VTS

F-12

?

26.58 mm

6.1 g

Obverse die rust

8 Oliver Hoover, "Wood 33: An Evasion Copper in North America," The Colonial Newsletter 1 37 (August
2008): 3279-3288.

9 Jeff Rock, "Evasion Coppers 'Frenchified,'" C4 Newsletter 21 .2 (Summer 2013): 9.

10 Oliver Hoover, "Blacksmith Copper Metrology," The Colonial Newsletter 155 (August 2014): 4199-
4213

April 2015

THE COLONIAL NEWSLETTER Sequential page 4254

Inv. no.

Notable Features

Grade

Source

Diameter

Weight

Rust/File Marks

W33-14

Almost full R

F-12

Michigan

26.62 mm

6.1 g

Little obverse die
rust

W33-15

Strong crossbar R

F-15

California

26.54 mm

5.3 g

No die rust

W33-16

Late die state

F-15

California

26.63 mm

5.8 g

No die rust

W33-17

BRITI

F-12

California

26.50 mm

5.9 g

No die rust

W33-18

Poorly preserved

PR-1

Toronto

26.63 mm

5.9 g

No die rust

W33-19

Remnants of T

VF-20

Massachusetts

26.65 mm

6.1 g

Obverse die rust

W33-20

Rosetta

VF-25

New York

26.59 mm

5.7 g

File marks

W33-21

Cornucopia

VF-25

Massachusetts

26.64 mm

6.1 g

Obverse die rust

W33-22

Faint top of T in
VTS

F-15

Massachusetts

26.46 mm

6.1 g

No die rust

W33-23

Late die state

F-15

Upstate New York

26.57 mm

6.1 g

Obverse die rust

W33-24

Raised metal
above head

VF-20

California

26.55 mm

5.7 g

No die rust

W33-25

Dented

G-4

Ontario

26.00 mm

5.5 g

?

W33-26

Both feet of
middle 1

VF-25

Nova Scotia

26.73 mm

6.3 g

Obverse die rust

W33-27

VTS

F-15

Upstate New York

26.66 mm

6.0 g

Obverse die rust

W33-28

Brick on BRITI

VF-20

Ontario

26.66 mm

6.2 g

Obverse die rust

W33-29

Overstruck

VG-10

Massachusetts

26.65 mm

5.9 g

?

W33-30

VTS / R / 1 no
right foot

F-12

Pennsylvania

26.61 mm

6.2 g

Obverse die rust

W33-31

Hint of VTS

VG-10

Ontario

26.61 mm

5.9 g

?

W33-32

Dent at 12 o'clock

VF-20

Ireland

26.43 mm

6.0 g

W33-33

Bent, lightest

F-12

Upstate New York

26.43 mm

5.2 g

W33-34

Double edge,
large flan

VG-10

Upstate New York

26.82 mm

5.9 g

W33-35

Almost all E, R,
part of Ts

VF-25

Ontario

26.64 mm

5.9 g

File marks

W33-36

Cornucopia

VF-30

Upstate New York

26.63 mm

5.8 g

File marks

W33-37

F-12

Michigan

26.59 mm

6.3 g

Obverse die rust

W33-38

Both Ts, die crack

VF-20

Upstate New York

26.49 mm

5.5 g

Obverse and
reverse die rust

W33-39

Middle 1 has 2
serifs, both Ts

F-12

Michigan

26.59 mm

6.3 g

W33-40

E and R.

F-15

California

26.59 mm

6.0 g

Obverse die rust

OS 029

Obverse rim?

VG-8

Ontario

26.50 mm

6.0 g

Rust or wear

OS 030

Faint top of T in
VTS

F-12

Ontario

26.60 mm

6.0 g

Obverse die rust

OS 031

Faint T IN BRITI

F-12

Ontario

26.51 mm

5.8 g

Obverse and
reverse die rust

W33c/s

Harp

counterstamp

F-12

California

26.60 mm

6.0 g

April 2015

THE COLONIAL NEWSLETTER Sequential page 4255

While I agree up to a point with Mr.

Leonard in hisconclusionthatpurchases
in the twenty-first century cannot paint
a full picture of circulation, they do hint
at what was. 11 Several specimens of
Wood 33 are known with an obverse
counterstamp depicting a harp and two
flowers (?) with the prominent initials
P*D (Fig. 7). Isolating the source of the
counterstamp could go far to clarify the
question of Wood 33's origin. 12

Phil: As Jim Biancarosa has already
noted, as you examine the rim and
periphery of the coin, the detail of the tops of the letters is consistently lost. Could these have
been engraved on a steel die whose surface was tapered toward the edge, making it lower than
the central plane? Thus the bottom of an engraved letter etc., facing the center would be more
deeply sunk into the die while the upper aspect of the letter was very poorly reproduced on the
die and hence faint on the struck coin. This makes me think of the situation on a lapped die
where shallowly impressed features are lost. The punches themselves were quite amateurish
and we are not dealing with skilled engravers, like those operating in Birmingham. These
observations seem to take us out of Birmingham countryside to North America, perhaps New
York City. The planchets, on the other hand, are a different story. They are well made without
defects and are of consistent weight; Jim Biancarosa's forty-four examples average 91.51 ±
4.01 grains (5.93 ± 0.26 g). My six coins are 93.9 ± 1.59 grains (from Upstate New York and
northern Maine). Mike Ringo had several dozen from New York and, in 1994, I bought his best
one (94.7 grains). Compare these weights with those in Table 6.3 in From Crime to Punishment
and Table 31 in Money of the American Coionies and Confederation ; 13 the only coinages whose
weight statistics compare to the Wood 33s are NOVA CONSTELLATIOs and 1773 Virginia
halfpence. All of this suggests to me that the coins were locally-made by amateurs on quality
imported planchets.

Jeff: The best thing an article can do stir up debate and controversy that then leads to further
research. Even if a theory is proven wrong, or not adopted by other authors, it has provided an
important service by spurring collectors to reexamine their coins, think about the issues, look
back into the historical record, and develop an alternative scenario — maybe even more than
one.

Phil: Well, I like Wood 33s, their ticks, fleas and all! For years, I have been on the verge
of writing my ideas about them. Without trying, I found several in Maine from junk boxes,
antique stores, etc. The only store-bought one was from Mike. This northern tier provenance

11 [It is a little odd that none of the Wood 33 specimens in the table have a Vermont source if one really
wants to press the Vermont attribution -Ed.]

12 [While it is fairly clear that Wood 33 circulated in the Eastern United States and in Lower Canada, the
harp symbol of the counterstamp and the Irish provenance of one Wood 33 in the Biancarosa collection
are tantalizing. Is it possible that Wood 33s could have circulated in Ireland before it came to North
America? The fact that there are at least two (one each in the Biancarosa and Rock collections) and
possibly more examples of Wood 33 with this counterstamp seems to imply that they were actually part of
the circulation pool where they were counterstamped and that they were specifically targeted — perhaps
because they had lost whatever value they had possessed originally. -Ed.]

13 Philip L. Mossman, From Crime to Punishment: Counterfeit and Debased Currencies in Colonial North
America (New York, 2013): 166; ibid., Money of the American Colonies and Confederation (New York,
1993): 208-210.

April 2015

THE COLONIAL NEWSLETTER Sequential page 4256

suggest a local source and circulation. I applaud and encourage those contributors who are
really studying this elusive series in depth and hope they tolerate my sophomoric conclusions:
namely a domestic token, manufactured north of the 45th parallel by unskilled individuals and
struck on high-quality planchets imported from Birmingham or a like area. I see nothing to
suggest a Vermont source.

P.S. this dialogue reminds me of CA//.-108 with its discussion of the Stepney Hoard. I would
promote more conversation of this type.

Jim: I am pleased that my original article brought about some new interest in Wood 33 and
inspired Mr. Leonard to write his rejoinder. While we may not agree, we have given the reasons
for our disagreement, leaving it up to readers to accept or reject them. I do think our articles
have added to my orphan's trip home. Unfortunately, there is no smoking gun in the case of
Wood 33 and we will probably never know the full story of this copper series. Still, when we
work together and continue the discussion, there may come a day when we will find a home
for my little friend.

April 2015

THE COLONIAL NEWSLETTER Sequential page 4257

ET TU BRUTE?

BRUTUS AND MEANING ON EVASIVE HALFPENCE

by

Oliver D. Hoover; Burlington, Ontario

A variety of famous historical personages are named (and sometimes depicted as well) on the
evasive copper halfpence struck in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. These
include the likes of the Anglo-Saxon king, Alfred the Great (871-899), the French king, Louis
XVI (1774-1792), and the English playwright, William Shakespeare. The names of these and
many other individuals appear in the place of the name and title of the ruling King George III
as a means of skirting English laws against counterfeiting halfpence, which became a criminal
offence in 1742. While a bust suspiciously similar to that found on regal halfpence (usually
left-facing in imitation of the coins of Gorge Ill's predecessor, George II) might appear on the
obverse of an evasive halfpenny and a seated figure remarkably like that of Britannia on regal
halfpence might appear on the reverse, the legend naming someone other than the reigning
king was enough to avoid a charge of counterfeiting. 1

The majority of the names are those of Medieval and Renaissance English historical and
cultural figures or contemporary English politicians and heroes of the French Revolutionary
and Napoleonic Wars. However, some names drawn from Roman antiquity also appear. The
ancient Roman name Brutus occurs as part of the following legend varieties catalogued by
Alan V. Judd (A. B. Cobwright) under the pseudonym of Malachy Greensward (Fig. I): 2

BRUTUS SEXTUS / BEL*ONA (B.001 0/B.0070)

BRUTUS SEXTUS / BRITANNIA (B.001 0/B.0375, B.001 0/B.0470, B.0020/B.0470, B.0020/
B.0450, B.0030/B.0620, B.0050/B.0375, B.0050/B.0470)

BRUTUS SEXTUS / BRITANS NIAS (B.001 0/B.0820, B. 0050/0820)

BRUTUS SEXTUS / BRITONS RULE (B.001 0/B.0940, B.0050/B.0940)

BRUTUS SEXTUS / BRITANNIA RULES (B.0030/B.0620)

BRUTUS SEXTUS / DELECTAT RUS (B.001 0/D.0060, B.0020/D.0060, B.0040/D.0070, B.0050/
D.0060)

BRUTUS SEXTUS / MUSIC * CHARMS (B.0030/M.0040)

BRUTUS SEXTUS / NORTH WALES (B.0010/N.0050, B.0020/N.0160)

BRUTUS SEXTUS / PAX PLACID (B.0030/P.0020)

The use of the name Brutus on these evasive issues raises two interesting questions:

1) Which Brutus is being referred to by the legend?
and

2) What meaning — if any was intended — should be derived from the use of Brutus' name on
evasive halfpence?

1 Philip L. Mossman, Money of the American Colonies and Confederation (New York, 1993): 122-123;
Philip L. Mossman, From Crime to Punishment: Counterfeit and Debased Currencies in Colonial North
America (New York, 2013): 117.

2 Malachy Greensword, A Journey Through the Monkalonkian Rain Forests in Search of the Spiney Fub-
baduck (Bramcote, 1993).

April 2015

THE COLONIAL NEWSLETTER Sequential page 4258

Will the Real Brutus Please Stand Up?

Perhaps the most
obvious candidate
for the Brutus of the
evasive halfpence is
Marcus Junius Brutus
Caepio (85-42 BC)
(Fig. 2), who went
down in infamy as the
friend of Julius Caesar
who organized the plot
to assassinate him on
the Ides of March,
44 BC. Anyone with
even the remotest
exposure to ancient
Roman history or to
the plays of William
Shakespeare is (and
was) likely to have
heard of this Brutus
and his role in the
watershed event of the
late Roman Republic.

A second possibility
is that the Brutus in
question is Brutus
of Troy (Fig. 3), a
mythological hero
apparently invented in
the ninth century AD to
explain the etymology
of the geographical
name, Britannia. 3
According to traditions
that evolved over the
course of the tenth
and eleventh centuries
BC, this Brutus was a
grandson or great-
grandson of Aeneas,
the Trojan hero who
was considered the
ultimate ancestor of

Figure 1. British (top) and Irish (bottom) versions of evasive halfpence
naming Brutus. Courtesy of Jeff Rock.

^ 4

Figure 2. Portrait of Marcus Junius Brutus on a Roman silver
denarius celebrating the assassination of Julius Caesar (43/42 BC).

D . ANS 1944.100.4554.

the Roman people, ^

After causing the ^ ^

deaths of his parents,

the young Brutus was exiled from Italy. After many adventures in Greece, North Africa, and

3 He first appears in the Historia Brittonum ("History of the Britons"), which is usually attributed to the
ninth-century Welsh monk, Nennius.

April 2015

THE COLONIAL NEWSLETTER Sequential page 4259

Gaul (modern France), he took to the sea with a
band of other exiled Trojans and conquered the great
island known as Albion. After defeating the giants who
inhabited the island, Brutus is said to have renamed
Albion as Britannia in his own honor (the first u in
Brutus and the first i in Britannia were considered
interchangeable in this forced etymology). 4

The identification of the Brutus of the coins with this
Trojan Brutus is attractive since there is an obvious
British connection that is lacking in Caesar's assassin.
The story of Brutus of Troy enjoyed great popularity
and is likely to have been familiar to many Englishmen
in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. It
was treated as historical fact in Holinshed’s Chronicles
of England, Scotland (1577) and remained such to
many people as late as the early twentieth century. 5
Indeed, it is still possible to see the supposed stone
upon which Brutus stepped when he disembarked
from his ship at Totnes, Devon (Fig. 4). 6

Figure 3. Brutus of Troy depicted
in an imagined numismatic woodcut
published in the sixteenth-century
Promptuarii Iconum Insigniorum.

A third possibility to be entertained is that the Brutus
in question is neither the Trojan Brutus nor the killer
of Julius Caesar, but rather another famous Brutus —
Lucius Junius Brutus, who is credited with the
foundation of the Roman Republic in 509 BC. The
main source forthe story of this Brutus comes from the
Ab Urbe Condita Libri ("Books from the Foundation
of the City") of Titus Livius (Livy), which chronicle the
story of Rome from its mythical beginnings down to 9
BC. According to this account, 7 Lucius Junius Brutus
was a nephew of Lucius Tarquinius Superbus, the
haughty Etruscan king of Rome. Brutus already
harbored resentment against Superbus for ordering
the execution of his brother and other leading men
in Rome, but when it was revealed that Lucretia, a
kinswoman of Brutus, had been raped by the son of
the king, Brutus could take no more. After Lucretia
reported the crime to Brutus and his associates she
promptly seized a dagger and killed herself to prevent
her victimization from becoming a stain on the honor
of her family. Brutus, taking up this same dagger,
then swore vengeance and led a successful revolt of
the Roman people against Tarquinius Superbus and
his powerful family.

4 The fullest account of Brutus of Troy comes from Geoffrey of Monmouth's Historia Regum Britanniae
("History of the Kings of Britain") written in c. 1136.

5 See, for example, the remarkable argument for a Trojan source behind prehistoric British culture in E.
O. Gordon, Prehistoric London: its Mounds and Circles (London, 1914): 4-5, 97-98, 106-107.

6 The tradition regarding this stone (possibly a Medieval boundary marker) goes back at least to 1697,
when it is mentioned in John Prince's The Worthies of Devon. See Theo Brown, "The Trojans in Devon,"
Report and Transactions of the Devonshire Association 87 (1955): 68-69.

7 Livy 1.54.1-2.7.4.

April 2015

THE COLONIAL NEWSLETTER Sequential page 4260

With the king deposed and the Tarquinii exiled from Rome, Brutus established a republican
constitution for the city-state. The new Roman Republic was governed by two annually elected
consuls — one of which was Brutus in the first year — and a senate of 300 leading men of the
equites ("knights") class. One of Brutus' first acts as consul was to compel the Romans to
swear an oath never again to permit themselves to be ruled by kings. A struggle against the
Tarquinii, who plotted to return and restore the Etruscan kingship in Rome, soon ensued. First
the Tarquinii tried to bribe several important Romans in order to gain entry to the city, but
the conspiracy was detected and the traitors were executed. The episode of the Tarquinian
conspiracy was especially hard on Brutus, for two of his sons were implicated in the plot.
However, as his love for his country and its republican institutions transcended the love of
family, he sat by stoically and watched as his sons were severely beaten and then beheaded
for their crimes.

When the conspiracy failed, the Tarquinius Superbus raised an army with assistance from
the Etruscan city of Veii and began to march on Rome. His forces were met by Brutus and
the Roman army at Silvia Arsia ("the Silvian Forest"). In the battle that ensued, Brutus and
his Etruscan cousin, Tarquinius Aruns, charged each other and died, each upon the spear of
the other. Despite the death of Brutus, the Roman infantry won the day at Silvia Arsia and the
republic was saved from a return of the kings.

Needless to say, the dramatic story of Brutus, rife with its themes of personal sacrifice for
the sake of country, became a patriotic literary chestnut for all ancient Romans — and for
many republican, nationalist, and totalitarian ideologies of more recent vintage. Nevertheless,
the Trojan Brutus still might seem a more probable candidate for the Brutus of the evasive
halfpence. Lucius Junius Brutus, the founder of the Roman Republic, has about as little an
obvious British connection as does his descendant, Marcus Junius Brutus, the killer of Caesar.
However, the obverse legends of the evasive halfpence show that Lucius Junius Brutus is
indeed the Brutus intended. In addition to the name BRUTUS, which stands in for the personal
name of King George III (GEORGIUS) found on regal halfpence, the ordinal number of the king
and his title (III REX) are replaced by SEXTUS on the evasive coppers. While at first this might
appear to be a nonsense word replicating elements of REX, it is actually the Latin praenomen
(personal name) meaning "the sixth." 8 As it happens, this is the very praenomen borne by
Lucretia's rapist and the immediate cause of Brutus' uprising against the Etruscan monarchy:
Sextus Tarquinius. The inclusion of SEXTUS alongside BRUTUS makes the identification of
Lucius Junius Brutus virtually impossible to avoid.

Further support is provided by two halfpenny tokens produced by the British Copper Company
(Walthamstow, Essex) between 1809 and 1811 (Fig. 5). 9 The undated token features the
bearded head of Brutus clearly labeled as such and seems to be informed by the portrait of
Lucius Junius Brutus found on silver denarii struck by Marcus Junius Brutus Caepio in 54 BC
(Fig. 6). The 1811 -dated halfpenny token, however, features a beardless laureate male head
that should also be identified as Lucius Junius Brutus through its associated Latin legend,
VINCIT AMOR PATRI/E ("Love of the fatherland prevails"). This motto is derived from line 823
(vincet amor patriae laudumque immensa cupido 10 ) of book 6 of Virgil's Aeneid, the celebrated
epic poem recounting the Trojan origin of the Romans and obliquely justifying the reign of the

8 The Romans were not especially original with their praenomina and many simply record birth order,
i.e., Quintus (Fifth) Sextus (Sixth), Septimus (Seventh), Octavius (Eighth), Nonus (Ninth), and Decimus
(Tenth).

9 Paul Withers and Bente R. Withers. The Token Book (Llanfyllin, 2010): 436, nos. 618-25 and 629.

10 "Let love of the fatherland prevail, and unmeasured desire for fame."

April 2015

THE COLONIAL NEWSLETTER Sequential page 4261

emperor Augustus. 11 The
line occurs in reference to
Lucius Junius Brutus when
the hero Aeneas visits the
Underworld and is shown
the glorious future in store
for his Roman descendants.

Brutus and Junius

Having shown thatthe Brutus
of the evasive halfpence
must be the founder of the
Roman Republic, Lucius
Junius Brutus, it becomes
necessary to explain why
he should be named on
British evasive halfpence
and depicted on a British
token. Lucius Junius Brutus
was a very popular figure
to political philosophers
of the Renaissance and
Enlightenment, who often
looked to republicanism as a
cure for evils associated with
absolute kingship. However,
there may be a very specific
English political context
behind the naming of Brutus
on the coins.

Figure 5. Lucius Junius Brutus on halfpenny tokens (c. 1809-
1811) of the British Copper Company.

Beginning in 1769 and
continuing until 1772, an
anonymous polemicist now
commonly identified as Sir
Philip Francis wrote a series
of open letters published in
London's Public Advertiser
underthe pseudonym Junius
(the names Lucius and
Brutus are thought to have
been used previously by the
same individual). 12 These

letters were intended to inform the English public of their constitutional rights and attacked
the ministry of Augustus Henry FitzRoy, the Duke of Grafton, which was seen as corrupt. The
public indignation raised against Grafton was so great that Henry Sampson Woodfall, the

Figure 6. Lucius Junius Brutus (left) on a Roman silver denarius
of Marcus Junius Brutus Caepio (54 BC). A NS 1944.100.3244.

% J

1 1 The engraver of the 1 81 1 token actually adopted a version of the Virgil quote popularized by St. Augus-
tine's The City of God (3 .1 6 . 24 and 5.18.19) rather than the original line from the Aeneid.

12 The original authoritative collection of the letters is Junius: Stat nominis umbra (London, 1772). On the
identity of the writer, see Alan Frearson, "The Identity of Junius," Journal for Eighteenth-Century Studies
7.2 (September 1984): 211-227.

April 2015

THE COLONIAL NEWSLETTER Sequential page 4262

publisher of the Public Advertiser, was tried for libel in 1770. However, the jury returned a
verdict of "guilty of printing and publishing only" and Woodfall resumed publishing the popular
letters of Junius. The increasingly unpopular Grafton resigned his post as Prime Minister later
the same year. Although the polemicist was successful in driving Grafton out of office, Junius
was disappointed by his failure to convince King George III to purge corrupt officials from the
administration. The king appointed Frederick North, the Second Earl of Guilford and cousin of
the Duke of Grafton, as the new Prime Minister in 1770.

In 1 773, Junius put down his pen forever, but his letters, with their emphasis on constitutionality,
freedom of the press, and opposition to government corruption and royal cronyism struck a
chord with political thinkers of the time that continued to reverberate into the early twentieth
century. While Junius was still writing, at least twelve collected editions of his letters were
printed before 1772, when Woodfall published an official collection complete with a dedication
to the English people. Further editions of the Junius letters appeared in 1 806 and 1 81 2, which
show that his views were still a matter of public interest when both the Brutus evasive halfpence
and tokens were produced.

The letters of Junius were of great interest to defenders of the American colonies as they
began to teeter on the brink of revolution. In 1769 and 1770, while Junius was still at work,
Arthur Lee, the Virginian correspondent to Britain and France assumed the pseudonym Junius
Americanus in order to make a case for the rights of the colonists in the London Gazetteer
and the Public Advertiser. On the question of his imitator, the English Junius remarked that,
"his American namesake is plainly a man of abilities, tho'...a little unreasonable." 13 Despite this
unreasonableness, Lee reprinted the Junius Americanus letters with other essays for American
consumption in 1770 as part of his growing contribution to the literature of revolution.

Junius Brutus continued to have an American presence during and after the Revolution,
although it is not always clear whether Lucius or Marcus is intended, or if the two are purposely
conflated.The founder of the Republic and the tyrant-slayer were both appropriate for the
political context.

A Salem privateer outfitted to attack British shipping before 1780 was christened Junius Brutus
and sailed in an expedition against Tortola in 1782. 14 This 20-gun ship did great damage to
the 14-gun sloop brig HMS Experiment off the Virgin Islands, but was later captured by British
relieving forces and towed to Halifax as a prize. Lucius Junius Brutus was also invoked by the
by the Virgilian motto VINCIT AMOR PATRI/E inscribed on silver medals awarded by Congress
to three soldiers responsible for capturing the British spy, Major John Andre, in 1780 (Fig. 7).

From 1787 to 1790, an anonymous writer (probably Robert Yates) following the model of the
earlier Junius, assumed the name of Brutus to criticize the proposed Constitution of the United
States in the New-York Journal , and Weekly Register. Sixteen epistolary essays in total were
penned by this American Brutus, challenging The Federalist Papers of Alexander Hamilton,
James Madison, and John Jay that had been serialized in The Independent Journal and The
New York Packet in 1786 and 1787. 15 In the manner of the founder of the Roman Republic, the
anti-Federalist Brutus was deeply concerned that the Constitution would give too much power

13 Michael Kammen, A Rope of Sand (Ithaca, 1968). The London Junius could not accept Lee's view that
Parliament lacked any right to tax the colonies among other's.

14 George F. Tyson, Jr., Powder, Profits & Privateers: A Documentary History of the Virgin Islands During
the Era of the American Revolution (Charlotte Amalie, 1977): 89-97.

15 The collected Anti-Federalist Papers can be found online at http://www.thisnation.com/library/
antifederalist/. The Federalist Papers to which they respond are available online at http://thomas.loc.gov/
home/histdox/fedpapers.html.

April 2015

THE COLONIAL NEWSLETTER Sequential page 4263

to Congress and infringe on the rights of the Roman people like some latter-day Etruscan king.
However, in the end the American Brutus could not exact an oath against the Constitution as
he might have wished. By the beginning of 1791 all thirteen of the original Anglo-American
colonies plus Vermont had ratified the Constitution and the Federal Era had begun.

Possibly under the influence of the American Brutus, and almost certainly aware of the earlier
activities of the London Junius, between 1790 and 1793 the Scottish author Henry Mackenzie
took up the name of Brutus for a series of polemical letters published in the Edinburgh Herald.™
As in the works of Junius, the Scottish Brutus discharged his invective primarily against corrupt
officials and the power of central authority.

Although little faith is usually placed in the dates found on evasive halfpence, it seems highly
coincidental that the earliest date known for the Brutus coppers is 1769, the very year that
the London Junius began his popular assault on government corruption. The dates 1771 and
1772, the years when Junius was still at large, are also common, as are 1774 and 1775, the
years of the Intolerable Acts and the outbreak of the American Revolution, when questions
of republicanism, opposition to monarchy, and issues raised by both the London Junius and
Junius Americanus loomed large in the mind of the English public. The only other date found
on the Brutus evasive halfpence is 1792, the year that King Louis XVI was deposed and the
Bourbon monarchy of France was replaced by the republican National Assembly. Although
Great Britain supported the First Coalition against France and subsequently became a leading
force in the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars that followed, there was some popular
sympathy for French republicanism, especially among the Scots and Irish — traditional sufferers
at the hands of English kings. 17 It is perhaps no accident that the 1792-dated variety features
an Irish reverse (Fig. 8).

16 Henry Mackenzie, The letters of Brutus. To certain celebrated political characters (Dublin, 1791) and
Additional Letters of Brutus (London, 1793).

17 R. R. Palmer, The Age of the Democratic Revolution: The Struggle (Princeton, 1970): 459-464.

April 2015

THE COLONIAL NEWSLETTER Sequential page 4264

Figure 8. 1792-dated Brutus evasive halfpenny with Irish reverse.
Courtesy of Jeff Rock.

The continuing popular taste for Brutus and what he had come to mean thanks to his several
avatars in the late eighteenth century and beginning of the nineteenth may be gauged not only
by the reprinting of the works of the London Junius, but by the evolution of Junius Brutus as an
English personal name. This name was given to the English father of the infamous John Wilkes
Booth at his birth in 1 796. Junius Brutus Booth (Fig. 9) was named by his father, a London lawyer
who was — perhaps not very coincidentally — also a strong supporter of the American cause
during the Revolution. He grew up to be a celebrated stage actor in London (181 7-1 821 ) before
moving to Maryland and becoming recognized
as one of the greatest actors in the United
States (1821-1852). Ironically, although Junius
Brutus Booth is known to have threatened to kill
his friend, President Andrew Jackson, probably
as a drunken joke in 1853, 18 it was actually his
son, John Wilkes Booth, who took the role of
Brutus (apparently Marcus rather than Lucius)
to heart. He assassinated President Abraham
Lincoln during a performance at Ford's Theatre
in Washington, D.C., on April 14, 1865,
convinced that he had slain a greater tyrant
than Caesar.

The name of Brutus was also assumed by the
American artist, Junius Brutus Stearns (181 0—

1885), best known for his five-part series of
paintings depicting important events in the
life of George Washington produced between
1847 and 1856 (Fig. 10). Like the majority
of the Junii and Bruti discussed here in the
context of the late eighteenth century, Stearns
also appears to have had the founder of the
Roman Republic, rather than Caesar's killer
in mind when he took up the name to sign his

18 The letter, in which Booth threatens to cut the President's throat and burn him at the stake if he does
not pardon two convicted pirates, can be read on the Library of Congress blog at http://blogs.loc.gov/
loc/2009/07/library-helped-finger-another-would-be-assassin-named-booth/junius-booth-letter/.

April 2015

THE COLONIAL NEWSLETTER Sequential page 4265

Figure 9. Washington as Statesman at the Constitutional Convention by Junius
Brutus Steams (1856).

^ J

works, for his given name had been Lucius Sawyer Stearns. The artist merely dropped the
English middle name and the paraenomen of the Republic's founder that his parents had
originally provided him and replaced them with the two and most popular remaining elements
of Brutus' tria nomina (the three names normally belonging to Roman citizens). In short, trading
Lucius for Junius Brutus was a bit of a classically-minded joke, but one that also gave Stearns
an ideologically-charged name.

Conclusion

This brief analysis of the BRUTUS SEXTUS evasive halfpence shows while evasive coppers
are often treated as the only slightly better made relatives of the frequently crude counterfeit
halfpence, their makers were not just in it for the money, so to speak. The designers of the
BRUTUS SEXTUS series were almost certainly educated people who knew their classics well
enough to create a coin legend that could at once fit the expected arrangement of a regal
halfpenny and clearly distinguish between Marcus Junius Brutus, Brutus of Troy, and Lucius
Junius Brutus as the subject. Furthermore, the use of Lucius Brutus on the coppers and the
timing of his use points to coin designers who paid close attention to public opinion, politics,
and the newspaper personalities who increasingly had the power to inform both. Although
the obverse legend gives the impression of a classical joke that might have given a laugh
to the educated, they also served to remind the same educated individuals of Junius' fight
against corruption in British government and the important ideals at stake on the eves of the
American Revolutionary and French Revolutionary Wars. In short, these evasive coppers were
counterfeits for the intelligentsia and were just as much vehicles of propaganda as the coins of
the ancient Romans. No doubt other historical names used in the evasive series would reveal
additional interesting political implications when fully investigated.

April 2015

THE COLONIAL NEWSLETTER Sequential page 4266

CONTINENTAL CURRENCY "DOLLARS" IN THE COLLECTION OF
THE AMERICAN NUMISMATIC SOCIETY

Plate I

(Newman 3-G and Centennial Exposition Copies)

by

Oliver D. Hoover; Burlington, Ontario 1

Introduction

The mysterious Continental Currency coinage of 1776 has always been a subject of great in-
terest and speculation among numismatists, chiefly due to the lack of documentary evidence
about it. The records of the Continental Congress are completely silent about the coinage
although several committees were formed to deal with other coin-related issues in 1776 and
1777 (i.e. the valuation of foreign coins in the United States and a proposal to establish a mint).
Indeed, the coinage is so obscure that Robert Morris, the Superintendant of Finance of the
United States (1781-1784), seems to have known nothing about it. Otherwise he could not
have described his 1783 NOVA CONSTELLATIO pattern as the first "struck as an American
Coin."

It has been argued that the Continental Currency coins, struck in silver, pewter/tin, and brass,
were part of a proposed dollar coinage intended to supplement the contemporary paper Con-
tinental Currency. The coins, which are roughly the size of a Spanish milled dollar and some-
times described as overstruck on such dollars, replicate the sundial and linked rings vignettes
designed by Benjamin Franklin for the paper Continental Currency emissions of February 17,
1776. They also seem to fill the void of the dollar denomination which was missing from the
paper Continental Currency printed after May 6, 1776, and before January 14, 1779.

The types, which were also employed for the FUGIO coppers of 1787, feature the sun shining
on a sundial with the legends FUGIO ("I [i.e. Time] fly") and MIND YOUR BUSINESS on the
obverse. The implication is that Americans should do what is necessary (i.e. to protect their
interests and support the Revolution) while there is still time. The reverse depicts thirteen linked
rings inscribed with the names of the states in the American Congress and the central legend
WE ARE ONE. One variety also bears the secondary inscription EG FECIT ("EG made [it]").
This is believed to be the signature of Elisha Gallaudet, who had engraved the sundial design
on the plates used to print the factional paper Continental Currency emission of February 17,
1776.

Of the Continental Currency "dollar" varieties distinguished by Eric Newman ("The 1776 Conti-
nental Currency Coinage," The Coin Collector's Journal [ July-August 1952]: 1-9), theANS col-
lection only includes two examples of 3-D struck in pewter (Nos. 1-2). Newman 3-G belongs to
the second of two groups identified by Michael Hodder ("The Continental Currency Coinage of
1776," in The American Numismatic Association Centennial Anthology [Wolfeboro, NH, 1991]:
7-18), which he suggests may have been struck in New York City.

The first coin in the plate was purchased in 1911 from the important Philadelphia dealer, Henry
Chapman. It came with an NE shilling, a Pine Tree shilling, a Massachusetts cent and two oth-
er coins all for the remarkable price of $78.92. The second Continental Currency "dollar" was

1 The commentary and catalog have benefited from discussion with Louis Jordan, and Philip Mossman.

April 2015

THE COLONIAL NEWSLETTER Sequential page 4267

also obtained at a truly bargain price by current market standards. In 1951 it was purchased
from the estate of R. D. Allen for $50.00.

In addition to the authentic specimens, the Society's cabinet also contains two copies produced
for the Centennial Exposition of 1876. A copper version was included in the collection formed
by Frederick A. Canfield, who is best known for his New Jersey coppers. It and the duplicates
from his New Jersey collection were given to the ANS by the New Jersey Historical Society in
1 931 . A lead example (No. 3) came from the F. Mirdlinger collection, which was donated by his
daughter, Mrs. M. Whitehill, in 1941.

Catalog

Newman 3-D

Obv. CONTINENTAL CURRENCY / 1776. Sun shining on sundial; MIND YOUR BUSINESS
below and FUGIO and EG FECIT in surrounding band.

Rev. WE ARE ONE surrounded by AMERICAN CONGRESS in band. Thirteen linked rings
inscribed with the abbreviated names of the thirteen original Untied States.

Pewter

1. 39mm, 271.6 grains. ANS 1911.85.7.

2. 39mm, 231.7 grains. ANS 1954.95.1.

Centennial Exposition Copies

Obv. CONTINENTAL CURRENCY / 1776. Sun shining on sundial; MIND YOUR BUSINESS
below. FUGIO in surrounding band.

Rev. WE ARE ONE surrounded by AMERICAN CONGRESS in band. Thirteen linked rings
inscribed with the abbreviated names of the thirteen original Untied States.

Copper

3. 39mm, 656.0 grains. ANS 1931.58.537.

Lead

4.

39mm, 333.9 grains. ANS 1941.40.31.

April 201 5 THE COLONIAL NEWSLETTER Sequential page 4268

CONTINENTAL CURRENCY "DOLLARS" IN THE COLLECTION OF
THE AMERICAN NUMISMATIC SOCIETY

Plate I

(Newman 3-G and Centennial Exposition Copies)

3

4

April 2015

THE COLONIAL NEWSLETTER Sequential page 4269

CONNECTICUT COPPERS IN THE COLLECTION OF
THE AMERICAN NUMISMATIC SOCIETY

Plate XIII: 1786
(Miller 4.1-G to 5.1-H.1)
by

Oliver D. Hoover; Burlington, Ontario 1

Introduction

The Confederation period copper coinage of the state of Connecticut was legally struck in New
Haven by the Company for Coining Coppers from November 12, 1785, to June 1, 1787. From
June 1 , 1 787, to the Fall of 1 788, Connecticut coppers continued to be struck by James Jarvis
and Company. The types essentially consisted of modified versions of the royal bust obverse
and Britannia reverse familiar from contemporary English halfpence. The Latin regal legends
were replaced by new ones that identified the coppers as being issued by the authority of Con-
necticut (AUCTORI CONNEC) and advertised American independence and liberty (INDE ET
LIB). This coinage was popular, spawning imitative issues struck for Vermont and numerous
illegal counterfeits. The problem of counterfeiting combined with apparent mint irregularities led
to a state inquest in January of 1789. On June 20, 1789, the right to produce state coppers for
Connecticut was officially terminated by the federal government.

The collection of Connecticut coppers maintained by the American Numismatic Society may
be one of the most complete in existence and contains the vast majority of the die varieties
recorded in Henry C. Miller's The State Coinage of Connecticut (New York, 1920). The Soci-
ety's Connecticut holdings are so extensive due to two major gifts in the early twentieth and
twenty-first centuries. In 1931, the Frederick Canfield collection of Connecticut coppers (285
pieces) was loaned and subsequently donated to the ANS by the New Jersey Historical Soci-
ety. In 2005, the American Numismatic Society acquired the Connecticut collection of Edward
R. Barnsley (1131 pieces) thanks to the generosity of James C. Spilman and the Colonial
Newsletter Foundation.

This thirteenth plate in a series to fully publish the Connecticut coppers in the ANS cabinet
features two pieces from the Canfield collection (Nos. 126 and 129) and six from the Barnsley/
CNLF gift (Nos. 121-123, 127-128, and 130). Two coins (Nos. 124-125) lack provenance
data.

The Canfield coins all have white painted die varieties (PDV) on the obverse giving the respec-
tive Miller numbers, although coin no. 1 26 lacks the letter M in the right field usually included in
Canfield PDVs. Coin no. 125 has a very similar PDV, but the obverse designation is curiously
given as 4 11 rather than the expected 4 1 . It too may be a Canfield piece.

1 The commentary and catalog have benefited from discussion with Randy Clark, Louis Jordan, and

Philip Mossman.

April 2015

THE COLONIAL NEWSLETTER Sequential page 4270

Catalog

Obv. Legend as indicated. Laureate and cuirassed bust left, imitating regal halfpence of George II.

Rev. Legend as indicated. Liberty/Columbia/Connecticut seated left on globe, holding olive
branch and pole topped by liberty cap; grounded shield beside. In exergue, 1786.

Miller 4.1 -G

121 . 28mm, 159.8 grains. AUCTORI CONNEC / INDE: ET LIB:. ANS 2005.37.153.

122. 28mm, 143.3 grains. AUCTORI CONNEC / INDE: ET LIB:. ANS 2005.37.427.

123. 28mm, 130.2 grains. AUCTORI CONNEC / INDE: ET LIB:. ANS 2005.37.428.

124. 28mm, 147.6 grains. AUCTORI CONNEC / INDE: ET LIB:. ANS 0000.999.19829.

125. 28mm, 151 .0 grains. AUCTORI CONNEC / INDE: ET LIB:. Painted Miller die variety

on obverse (4 11 G in left field and M on right). ANS ANS 0000.999.19830.

Miller 4.2-R

126. 28mm, 124.5 grains. AUCTORI CONNEC / INDE: ET-LIB:. Painted Miller die variety
on obverse (4 2 R in left field). ANS 1 931 .58.442.

127. 28mm, 116.2 grains. AUCTORI CONNEC / INDE: ET-LIB:. ANS 2005.37.429.

Miller 4.2-S

128. 28mm, 154.4 grains. AUCTORI CONNEC / INDE: ET-LIB:. ANS 2005.37.430.

Miller 5.1-H.1

129. 29mm, 137.3 grains. AUCTORI: CONNEC: / INDE: ET-LIB:. Painted Miller die variety
on obverse (5 1 H 1 in left field and M on right). ANS 1931 .58.443.

130. 28mm, 157.8 grains. AUCTORI: CONNEC: / INDE: ET-LIB:. ANS 2005.37.431.

April 2015

THE COLONIAL NEWSLETTER

Sequential page 4271

CONNECTICUT COPPERS IN THE COLLECTION OF
THE AMERICAN NUMISMATIC SOCIETY

Plate XIII: 1786
(Miller 4.1-G to 5.1-H.1)

122

124

123

126

127

128

129

130

April 2015

THE COLONIAL NEWSLETTER Sequential page 4272

NEW JERSEY COPPERS IN THE COLLECTION OF
THE AMERICAN NUMISMATIC SOCIETY

Plate XIII: 1787
(Maris 48-g to 54-k)

by

Oliver D. Hoover; Burlington, Ontario 1

Introduction

The partnership of Walter Mould, Thomas Goadsby, and Albion Cox received a two-year contract
to produce three million copper coins for the state of New Jersey on June 1 , 1 786. Their coins
carried the obverse type of a horse head and plow derived from the state seal and an Ameri-
can shield on the reverse. The legends give the Latin name of the state (NOVA C/ESAREA)
and present the national motto of the United States (E PLURIBUS UNUM) for the first time on
any coin. By the Fall of 1 786 the partners had fallen into disagreement and divided the coinage
quota between a mint operated by Goadsby and Cox at Rahway, near Elizabethtown (now Eliz-
abeth), NJ, and another operated by Mould near Morristown, NJ. Further problems developed
in 1788. Mould ceased his involvement with the coinage at this time and Cox faced litigation
by his creditors and by Goadsby, which resulted in the seizure of the mint equipment. By the
middle of the year, the remainder of the coining contract and the Rahway mint equipment had
been obtained by Matthias Ogden, the primary mover behind the New Jersey coinage legisla-
tion. Despite having access only to dies dated 1786 and 1787, Ogden continued to strike New
Jersey coppers at his barn in Elizabethtown until as late as 1790.

The American Numismatic Society's holdings of New Jersey coppers are extensive, thanks to
the New Jersey Historical Society's donation of duplicates from the Frederick Canfield collec-
tion (24 pieces) in 1931 and the purchase of a large part of the Harry Prescott Clark Beach
collection (829 pieces) from Henry Grunthal in 1945. Grunthal, who had studied numismatics
in Germany, later went on to become Assistant to the Chief Curator and Curator of European
and Modern Coins at the ANS from 1 953 to 1 973. Most of the die varieties identified by Edward
Maris in A Historic Sketch of the Coins of New Jersey (Philadelphia, 1881) may be found in
the ANS collection. Fora complete listing of varieties discovered since 1881, see now, Roger
Siboni, John Howes, and Buell Ish, New Jersey State Coppers (New York, 2013).

On this thirteenth plate in a series to fully publish the New Jersey coppers belonging to the
American Numismatic Society, seven (Nos. 121-122, 124, 126, and 128-1 30) are Beach coins
purchased from Grunthal in 1945. The remaining three pieces (Nos. 123, 125, and 127) lack
their provenance information.

1 The commentary and catalog have benefited from discussion with Louis Jordan, Philip Mossman, and
Ray Williams.

April 2015

THE COLONIAL NEWSLETTER Sequential page 4273

Catalog

Obv. NOVAC/ESAREA, around. Head of horse right, above plow right (Nos. 121 and 127-130)
or left (Nos. 122-126); in exergue, 1787.

Rev. *E*PLURIBUS*UNUM*, around. American shield emblazoned with a field of argent, six
pales gules, and a chief azure.

Maris 48-g

121. 27mm, 147.2 grains. ANS 1945.42.717.

Maris 49-f

1 22. 27mm, 1 32.2 grains. ANS 1 945.42.71 8.

1 23. 27mm, 1 65.2 grains. ANS 0000.999.28486.

Maris 50-f

1 24. 27mm, 151.7 grains. ANS 1 945.42.71 9.

125. 27mm, 141 .6 grains. ANS 0000.999.28487.

Maris 51 -g

1 26. 27mm, 1 27.9 grains. ANS 1 945.42.720.

Maris 52-i

1 27. 27mm, 1 23.4 grains. ANS 0000.999.28488.

Maris 53-j

128. 27mm, 157.5 grains. ANS 1945.42.721.

Maris 54-k

1 29. 28mm, 92.4 grains. ANS 1 945.42.722.

130. 28mm, 130.5 grains. ANS 1945.42.723.

April 2015 THE COLONIAL NEWSLETTER Sequential page 4274

NEW JERSEY COPPERS IN THE COLLECTION OF
THE AMERICAN NUMISMATIC SOCIETY

Plate XIII: 1787
(Maris 48-g to 54-k)

122

124

128

123

125

126

129

130

April 2015

THE COLONIAL NEWSLETTER Sequential page 4275

MASSACHUSETTS BAY SILVER IN THE COLLECTION OF
THE AMERICAN NUMISMATIC SOCIETY

Plate VI: Oak Tree Shillings and Sixpences
(Noe 13 to 16 / Salmon 11-G to 2-B)

by

Oliver D. Hoover; Burlington, Ontario 1

Introduction

On May 26-27, 1 652, the Massachusetts General Court issued Acts for the establishment of a
silver mint in Boston as a measure of protection against the increasing problem of light weight
Spanish-American cobs circulating in Massachusetts Bay. The Boston silversmiths, John Hull
and Robert Sanderson were appointed to operate the mint. They were required to produced
coins of sterling (.925) fineness in English denominations, but at a reduced weight standard
of 72 grains to the shilling. The official weight of the contemporary English shilling was 92.9
grains.

Between 1652 and 1682, Hull and Sanderson struck four series of silver coins for Massachu-
setts Bay. The earliest of these, produced in June-October 1652, consisted of crude, blank
planchets marked with two stamps: NE for New England on the obverse and a value mark in
Roman numerals on the reverse. Legislation was passed, on October 19, 1652, to abandon
this simple design in favor of a more coin-like design produced by full-size dies. The obverse
of the new coinage featured a willow tree, while the English legend, MASATHVSETS IN / NEW
ENGLAND AN DOM was placed in the border, broken between the obverse and reverse. The
1652 date of the original mint legislation and the value indicator also appeared in the center of
the reverse. The willow tree coinage continued in production until c. 1660 or 1662, when the
willow on the obverse was replaced by an oak tree. The change in tree was also accompa-
nied by a change in production technology. While the willow tree coinage had been struck by
hand, the new oak tree series was struck in a rocker arm press. In c. 1667, the tree was again
changed, this time from an oak to a pine. The pine tree coinage — the most enduring of the Mas-
sachusetts silver series — was struck until 1682, when the mint contract expired. Hull died the
following year. Although sporadic attempts were made to revive the mint until 1690, these were
quashed by the restored Stuart kings, Charles II (1659-1685) and James II (1685-1688), and
finally put to rest by the increased value of silver and restored confidence in Spanish-American
coins at the end of the 1 680s.

The cabinet of the American Numismatic Society is home to some 1 51 authentic pieces of Mas-
sachusetts Bay silver of all four series, as well as a large selection (70 pieces) of electrotypes
and fakes. The core of the collection is almost certainly the 51 pieces donated by the prominent
New York collector, William B. Osgood Field, in 1946. The ANS collection includes most of the
varieties identified by Sydney P. Noe in his three major studies: The New England and Willow
Tree Coinage (1943), The Oak Tree Coinage of Massachusetts (1947), and The Pine Tree
Coinage of Massachusetts (1952), as well as in Christopher Salmon’s recent review and reas-
sessment of the coinage, The Silver Coins of Massachusetts (2011 ).

This sixth plate in a series to fully publish the Massachusetts Bay silver coins belonging to the

1 The commentary and catalog have benefited from discussion with Louis Jordan, Philip Mossman, and
Christopher Salmon.

April 2015

THE COLONIAL NEWSLETTER Sequential page 4276

American Numismatic Society features five Oak Tree shillings and three Oak Tree sixpences.
Two pieces (Nos. 46 and 52) come from the Osgood Field gift, but the majority of the coins
entered the Society's cabinet through purchase. One piece (No. 53) was bought from Charles
Wurtzbach in 1942, while coin no. 46 was purchased with another Massachusetts shilling, two
sixpences and a threepence from C. P. Knoth in 1943, all for $141.75. Another (No. 51) was
bought from Stack's together with another Massachusetts shilling, a sixpence, and a three-
pence for $164.50 in 1944. Coin no. 47 came with seven other shillings from the famous New
Netherland Coin Company for $123.84 in 1951. A single shilling (No. 48) was purchased from
the Library of the American Philosophical Library for $1,668.80 in 1973. The drastic shift in
prices between the 1940s and the early 1970s serves to illustrate the increased interest in and
the aggressive marketing of Massachusetts silver (and other colonial coin series) that began
in the 1950s and 1960s.

Coin no. 50, which was donated by Joseph R. Lasser in 1990, is especially notable. Not only
is it a twopenny fraction cut from a sixpence, but it is one of the Massachusetts sliver coins
recovered from the wreck of the HMS Feversham. This 32-gun fifth-rate warship was carrying
pay for the disastrous Walker Expedition against Quebec when it was shipwrecked near
Louisbourg on October 7, 1711.

Catalog

Shillings

Obv. Oak tree. MASATHVSETS-IN- around.

Rev. 1652 XII in center. NEWENGLAND-AN DOM- around.

Noe 13/Salmon 11-G

46. 35mm, 72.3 grains. ANS 1 946.89.89.

47. 35mm, 71.9 grains. ANS 1951.155.7.

48. 35mm, 72.9 grains. ANS 1973.177.22.

Noe 14/Salmon lla-Gi

49. 35mm, 71.1 grains. ANS 1943.111.4.

50. 17mm, 12.4 grains. Twopence cut from shilling. ANS 1990.49.7.

Sixpences

Obv. Oak tree. MASATHVSETS* around.

Rev. 1652 VI in center. IN NEWENGLAND-ANO* around.

Noe 16/Salmon 1-A

51 . 28mm, 33.6 grains. ANS 1 944.94.3.

52. 28mm, 35.0 grains. ANS 1 946.89.75.

Noe 20/Salmon 2-B

53. 28mm, 34.1 grains. ANS 1942.54.6.

April 2015

THE COLONIAL NEWSLETTER

Sequential page 4277

MASSACHUSETTS BAY SILVER IN THE COLLECTION OF
THE AMERICAN NUMISMATIC SOCIETY

Plate VI: Oak Tree Shillings and Sixpences
(Noe 13 to 16 / Salmon 11-G to 2-B)

52

53